CH 122

Outbreak of War

“――O Spirit of the Wind!”

Sheila created a breeze for the approaching behemoth.

She aimed at the tail of a tiger-like demon. At first glance, it looked like just a big tiger, but its tail was a snake.

Since it had been explained beforehand that the fangs and claws of a demon were highly toxic, Sheila first used spirit arts to neutralize just one of them first. It should be possible to restrain the tailed serpent coiled in the wind, even if only for a few seconds.

The tiger in the main body opened its mouth wide and approached Sheila. Its target was probably her throat. She dodged just in time, calmly thinking that the tiger seemed to know instinctively where the vital point on the body was.

Sheila tried to swing her sword down, but since it wasn’t a one-on-one fight, she was flanked. She was attacked by a small demon at her feet as if to take advantage of her opening, and she retreated slightly.

Clauschezade had said that there should be a spare piece of the torn talisman.

He said that if they were reattached, the border wards would work properly. However, there seemed to be a complicated procedure to reattach it, and it would take some time.

‘But that’s okay. If we know there is a solution, we can do our best.’

If they could stop the influx of demons here, all that was left to do was to exterminate the ones that were entering the country. It won’t be easy, though, because of the sheer number of them.

This was the first time Sheila have had to fight just to kill. She had hunted beasts for food, and for their pelts and bones.

However, since demons were highly toxic, it seemed that there was no other way but to burn them after defeating them.

Demons craved magic essence and attacked people. People killed demons to avoid being eaten.

Essentially, they both just wanted to live. It was a fight to survive.

Sheila faced the demon in front of her. There was no hesitation in her yellow-colored eyes as she gazed at them.

The beast growled and used its paws to attack. She dodged, careful not to touch the tip of the claw. She couldn’t avoid the second blow that knocked her down overhead, so she blocked it with her sword. If she was pushed away, there was no way to win, so she immediately turned to attack.

She turned her body around and slashed at the front leg that she had knocked away. The blade sank in quite deeply, though its response was surprisingly weak.

The tiger’s paws were covered in blood as it roared and moved away. Inwardly marveling at the sharpness of her enhanced sword, Sheila didn’t miss the opportunity.

“――O Spirit of Water!”

Because of the distraction, the tiger demon was soaked all over. Sheila quickly borrowed the power of the wind spirit to create a whirlwind.

It was difficult to incapacitate them quickly with fire-based techniques because of the difference in size in damage. Ice was the most effective way to incapacitate something in an instant.

Since spirit arts relied on the help of spirits, it could mainly manipulate the four elements of fire, water, wind, and earth, as well as light and darkness, depending on the location.

However, as mentioned before, there was no enhanced magic in spirit arts, and the elements of ice and lightning weren’t available. But Sheila knew how to freeze the water.

The lower the atmospheric pressure, the easier it was for water to boil. Water heated by boiling loses its heat of vaporization when it evaporated, resulting in a sudden drop in temperature. This also applied to demons, who, like humans, have bodily fluids. And in a vacuum, it didn’t stand a chance.

In the vacuum created by the whirlwind, the tiger was frozen in a flash.

Sheila had never done that to a living creature before. She knew that the boiling stage would be accompanied by excruciating pain.

The tiger demon also made an anguished cry that made her want to cover her ears, but Sheila didn’t hesitate. She took one look at it completely immobilized and immediately confronted the next demon.

“Sheila-kun, you are downright nasty! I hope you’ll take the time to show me your current technique later!”

Jornwerner’s joyful voice could be heard from behind her. Sheila shouted back while grabbing her bow and arrow.

“If you like, I’d like to practice it on Jornwerner-sensei!”

“I’m a little curious, but I’d rather not! After all, life should be valued!”

“I can’t help but feel uncomfortable when those reasonable words come out of your mouth!”

Even though they made small talk, Jornwerner’s magic attack continued without interruption.

Sheila couldn’t help but laugh at their silly exchange, probably due to her excitement on the battlefield. In the meantime, she was shooting small demons with her bow and arrow.

It seemed that there were spirits of light on this plain, and with their help, she was able to shoot at the speed of light. If it were a small demon, it could be defeated with a single shot.

As soon as the second arrow was aimed, a sharp claw struck her from the side. It was a huge lizard-like creature. Noticing its presence, Sheila gripped her arrow and thrust it into its scale-covered body. Since she had a limited number of arrows, she pulled them out and aimed them at another demon. The lizard demon, moaning in pain, was killed after the arrow was released.

A momentary lapse could be fatal. With so many demons attacking them one after another, there was no time to rest.

Despite the fatigue that was gradually accumulating in her body, her nerves seemed to be getting more and more alert.

Even attacks from behind could be detected. When Sheila was attacked from three different directions by different demons, she didn’t hesitate even for a moment.

She dodged the fangs in front of her, and at the same time, cut down the claws that were aiming at her head. She kicked back as hard as she could at the abdomen of the demon that was closing in on her.

When the fangs grazed her slightly, Leidyrune’s healing magic rushed in immediately. It must have been effective against the condition, as Sheila didn’t succumb to the poison.

She dealt with the large demons by pretending to be outnumbered and luring them into a trap. The power of the wide-range attack magic tool set by Jornwerner was so great that it was difficult for her to escape from the attack range before it was activated.

While repeating such things, Sheila checked on Clauschezade. A pile of corpses had been built up around him.

As usual, just by swinging once, several demons lost their lives. His sharp movements showed no signs of fatigue.

His silver-white hair was dyed bright red. His armor, clothes, and skin were all red. Wielding his sword, Clauschezade looked so fierce that it was only natural that he was treated as a hero. Yet his expression was as serene as the surface of a lake, giving the illusion that a god had descended upon the battlefield.

Perhaps noticing her gaze, her eyes met Clauschezade’s. 

“Concentrate.”

He was in the middle of the battlefield, albeit not too far away, but his voice carried through undisturbed.

“I’m sorry. You just looked so beautiful.”

Clauschezade fell silent as Sheila answered honestly. For some reason, the demons in front of him were being cut down as if he was taking it out on them. She felt a little sympathy for the demons.

“You’re not much different. You’re covered in blood.”

Sheila looked down at herself as she cleaved the body of a snake demon with a single strike. Indeed, it was hard to find any other color than red.

“Then, we’re all matching now, aren’t we?”

Sheila wasn’t sure if her senses had somehow gone haywire, but she was feeling somewhat happy.

She laughed lightly, then jumped up and aimed at the jet-black lion demon’s forehead. Her sword swung down without a hitch, severing its head in two. The dead demon collapsed down with a thud, splattering lukewarm blood.

When she looked at Clauschezade, she saw that he had cleared the area in front of him. The way he didn’t let any of them escape was astonishing.

“Amazing. As expected from you.”

“…. You, concentrate on the demons. It’s distracting if you stared at me too much.”

“I’m sorry about that. When I look at Clauschezade-sensei, I’ll be motivated to do my best, so I can’t help it.”

She behaved without thinking of the other person’s feelings.

After Sheila apologized, Clauschezade finally launched an all-around attack. Now there was nothing moving around him, let alone in front of him.

At that moment, she felt a chill on her neck. She looked up to see a swirling vortex of air that seemed to cover the entire area.

Sheila and Clauschezade followed the warning bells echoing in their heads and retreated.

Geehh…!

The swirling vortex filled with icicles fell in a straight line.

A beat later, the cold air swirled slightly around Sheila and Clauschezade too. It was no longer cold, but rather painful. The scale of the cold air must have been the equivalent of a disaster.

When the wind died down and she looked up, most of the demons in the vicinity were either frozen or their movements had been severely slowed.

Sheila glared sharply at the person who had set up the large-scale ice magic.

“If you’re going to do something like this, please at least warn us in advance!”

Of course, the person responsible was Jornwerner.

Thanks to him, the demons in the area had been rendered ineffective, but Sheila and Clauschezade might have been iced as well. It was natural for her to be angry.

However, Jornverna didn’t seem apologetic at all and waved his hand with a smile on his face.

“You two, stop flirting and fight hard!”

“…. Yes?”

Her expression distorted reflexively at the ambiguous reply.

“We weren’t flirting! It’s really hard to comprehend the feelings of an eccentric person.”

“…. For the time being, there are still some living demons out there. Don’t let your guard down.”

“Ah, yes.”

Prompted by Clauschezade, who subtly frowned, Sheila readied her sword again.